Dates

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Genres and Modes

Context

The idea for “The Harvest Gypsies” began in 1936 when The
San Francisco News commissioned John Steinbeck to write a
series of articles in order to document the lifestyles of the large
number of Dust Bowl refugees who were migrating west to California
hoping to find employment as agricultural laborers. Intrigued by
the assignment, Steinbeck immediately purchased an old bakery truck
to travel in and planned his route into middle California’s
agricultural district, determined to live among the workers and
experience their plight firsthand. What he found there shocked and
outraged him, and his anger erupted as he composed the articles
that became a seven-part journalistic series. Published between
October 5 and October 11, …

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Citation:
Meyer, Michael J.. "The Harvest Gypsies". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 January 2008
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23075, accessed 09 December 2016.]

23075The Harvest Gypsies3Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.